Small EL Activities

Images of students doing experiential learning activities

What is Curricular Based Experiential Learning or Small EL[1]?

The University of Calgary defines Experiential Learning as learning by doing, being, connecting, and reflecting. Research shows that students benefit from many different types of EL, but yet, for many students, traditional forms of EL remain out of reach. Co-ops, internships, field schools, and international exchanges are genuinely valuable, but they also require time, flexibility, and resources that not every student has. In a 2022 survey of over 2,000 University of Calgary students, 86% reported that lack of time or exhaustion from academic commitments prevented them from engaging in EL. The barriers aren't a reflection of student motivation or merit, rather they're a reflection of how EL has typically been designed.

Curricular based EL or Small EL is our attempt to design differently.

We define Small EL [2] as experiential learning that is intentionally narrow in scope, concentrating on a particular aspect of a subject, experience, or skill that can be integrated into regular instruction. It fits within the rhythms of a course rather than requiring students to step outside them. It's not a lesser version of EL. It's EL made intentional, accessible, and real within the constraints that both students and instructors actually face.

[1] Small EL is a nod to James Laing’s Small Teaching concept

[2]For more about Curricular EL or Small EL please see: Stowe, L., Flanagan, K., Johnston, D., Mason, D., & Summers, M. (2026). Small Teaching Meets Experiential Learning: A Case and Framework for Accessible Experiential Learning in Post-Secondary Education. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 14, 1-17.

Small EL activities share three characteristics

Time-bounded

The experience fits within a single class, lab, or tutorial period or within a clearly defined short timeframe with explicit beginning and end points that students are aware of from the start.

Focused

The activity zeroes in on a specific skill, topic, or experience. Often this means taking a concept students find challenging and redesigning it to be experiential and can be seen as a chance to "dip your toe in" rather than dive all the way.

Lower risk

Participation is relatively low stakes for both students and faculty/staff. The activity doesn't substantially impact a student's grade or even have to be assessed. It doesn’t require a significant time commitment outside of class, which makes it a genuine opportunity for hands-on practice without the pressure of high-consequence performance.

These characteristics don't lower the bar for quality, but they are what makes meaningful EL possible within real course constraints.

Built on the A.I.R. framework

Small EL draws on UCalgary’s A.I.R. framework for high-quality experiential learning, which posits that authentic experience, intentional design, and reflective practice are the conditions that make EL educationally meaningful, not the duration or scale of the activity [3]. A  Small EL activity is authentic when it involves a meaningful, relevant, and embodied engagement with something genuinely uncertain or unpredictable. It is intentionally designed when it's deliberately integrated into the course and aligned with learning outcomes and not just an ‘add on’. And it includes reflection that challenges students to examine their assumptions, not just describe what they did.

This is also what distinguishes Small EL from active learning more broadly. Many engaging classroom activities involve students doing things. Small EL is EL because of the intentionality behind its design and the authenticity of the experience.

Review the framework

[3] For more on the AIR framework please see Flanagan, K., Stowe, L. R., Martineau, C., Kenny, N., & Kaipainen, E. (2024). The Land and the AIR--Revisioning Experiential Learning on a Canadian Campus. Experiential Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 7(3), 58-74.

UCalgary aerial with mountains behind

You may already be doing this

One of the things we hear most often from instructors when we describe Small EL is: "Oh! I think I already do that." And in many cases, they're right. Field trips, guest speakers, role-play exercises, case studies, debates, student-led classes, brief community visits, poster sessions, short problem-solving challenges are all forms Small EL can take. What the framework offers is a way to recognize what's already working, name it as EL, and strengthen it with more intentional design and reflection.

Small EL is not a replacement for immersive experiential learning. It's an essential part of the same landscape and we see it as the entry point that makes EL possible for more students, in more courses, across more disciplines.

Hear from practitioners

The activity profiles below come from instructors across the university who are integrating Small EL into their courses. They're offered not as templates to replicate, but as starting points for thinking about what might be possible in your own context and what, with a little intentional design, you might already be partway toward.

COMS 477: Food Culture

Learning outcomes: Exploring campus food insecurity activity

  • Students develop an understanding of local food systems through direct experience.
  • Students make connections between hands‑on learning and academic concepts.
  • Students work together as a team on a food‑related topic.

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ERTH305: Earth, Energy, and Environment

Learning outcomes: Understanding the past through fossil evidence activity

  • Students will calculate the height of a dinosaur at the hip and determine whether it was walking or running based on footprint size and stride length.
  • Students will use collected data to construct a story about a past event involving the dinosaurs that made the footprints.
  • Students will reflect on the assumptions made during their calculations and story development that allowed them to carry out the procedures.

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GEOG 280: Geospatial Project Management

Learning outcomes: Collaborative mapping and spatial reasoning activity

  • Students describe geospatial technologies and practices.
  • Students consider how maps represent, create and recreate places and spaces.
  • Students create an applied mapping project to explore a real‑world problem.
  • Students apply industry‑standard software to perform basic mapping and analytical tasks.

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FNCE 443 - Securities Analysis and Investments

Learning outcomes: Hands-on securities trading practice activity

  • Students learn how to place buy and sell orders using the Rotman Interactive Trading platform.
  • Students interpret order books and respond appropriately to client trading scenarios.
  • Students apply course concepts to make informed trading decisions in a simulated market environment.

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UNIV 304: Experiential learning in the workplace

Learning outcomes: Developing professional skills through mock interviews

  • Students acquire and apply professional skills and personal development to behaviour, decision-making and goal setting in work and learning settings.
  • Students enhance and articulate an understanding of your personal strengths and how you relate to and collaborate with others (roles, responsibilities).
  • Students reflect on and articulate/communicate learnings and make connections between your work and academic experiences.
  • Students create goals and plan next steps based on learning for on-going professional development (experiences plus reflections).

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UNIV 304: Experiential learning in the workplace

Learning outcomes: Workplace goal setting and reflection activity

  • Students engage in a supervised work‑related experience that complements their studies, career goals or degree program.
  • Students acquire and apply professional skills and personal development strategies to guide their behaviour, decision‑making and goal setting.
  • Students plan for and respond to changing or unforeseen workplace circumstances, including shifting relationships, responsibilities and technical requirements.
  • Students reflect on and communicate their learning and make connections between their work and academic experiences.

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